Of System and Variety
by Fix-it Feli
Summary: Ludwig does things by the book. He has a plan and nothing can interfere with it. Feliciano is playing things by ear. As long as he's happy, he doesn't care what he's doing. When the two end up being roommates in college, will they change each other? And will it be for better, or for worse?
1. Getting Off on the Wrong Foot

"Now, Ludwig," Gilbert chided, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, "just remember, if you hook up with some hot chick, make sure to bring her home and show her off to me."

Ludwig scoffed as he popped open the car door. "Please. I'm not going to get involved with any girls. I'm not going to let something as dumb as a girlfriend interfere with my plans."

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, brother. Just be sure to call me every once in a while! And visit sometimes, will ya? Don't leave your amazing older brother to die slowly and painfully out of loneliness."

"You'll be fine," Ludwig grumbled. Gilbert looked a bit hurt by his simple response, so he added, "You'll have Liz and your alcoholic friends to look after you. You'll be well off without me."

"It still won't be the same," Gilbert muttered, his voice gravely serious. A disheartened frown replaced his usual teasing grin, and he spread open his arms in an invitation for a hug.

Normally, Ludwig rejected any attempts at affection that Gilbert could offer. But it was rare for him to display any serious emotions, including sadness. And as cold of a person as Ludwig was, the look on Gilbert's face definitely tugged on a few heartstrings.

So, after a moment's hesitation, Ludwig shuffled forward, allowing his older brother to pull him into a hug. Though Gilbert was older, Ludwig was taller, and he had to lean down a bit in order to murmur to his brother, "Don't worry, I won't forget about you. I'll make sure to call you whenever I have free time, and I'll try to visit at least once a month."

"Once a month?" Gilbert echoed, sounding bewildered.

"At least," Ludwig repeated before breaking away. "Anyway, I'd better get going now," he muttered awkwardly, clearing his throat and stepping towards his vehicle. "Be on your best behavior while I'm gone."

Gilbert feigned shock, putting a hand to his chest and backing away slightly, as if Ludwig had deeply wounded him. "Are you implying that I'm usually _not_ on my best behavior?"

Ludwig managed a small smile before getting into the drivers' seat and pulling the door shut behind him. He rolled down the passenger window in order to call out, "Goodbye, brother!"

As he pulled out of the driveway and started down the road, he could just barely make out his brother's voice. He could only really catch a few words, but he was pretty sure that what he heard was "Bring home a girl!"

* * *

"Room 252," Ludwig muttered to himself as he wandered through the hallways, glancing up frequently from the paper he was holding, scanning the plaques on the walls that were inscribed with numbers.

Finally, he found it: 252. A whiteboard hung dead-center on the door, and a dry erase marker sat precariously on top of the board. On the whiteboard, there were multiple doodles of cats, and a name was sloppily written in between a couple of the cat drawings.

Ludwig hesitated before taking the marker and writing his name too. He tried to make it look neat but, despite being a neat guy, he'd never had the best handwriting. Ah, well. At least his lines were straight, whereas his roommate's was curlier looking. Though, he had to admit, his roommate's letters seemed to flow together nicely. They still were sloppy looking though.

Placing the marker back on top of the whiteboard, Ludwig reached for the doorknob. However, as soon as his fingers brushed against the metallic surface of the doorknob, he froze. What if his roommate was getting changed? He certainly didn't want to walk in to that, and plus, it would be quite rude to just barge right in, even if it was both of their room.

So, he rapped lightly on the door. He stood silently for a moment, shifting the laptop case he held in his left hand so that he wouldn't drop it. When there was no answer from inside the room, he knocked again, this time a bit harder.

Still nothing.

_Maybe he isn't in there,_ Ludwig thought to himself before slowly cracking open the door. He peered in, and immediately recognized his side of the room. There was simply a bed stripped of a sheet, and a bare shelf towering behind it.

He swung the door open the rest of the way; however, before he could even take a single step into the room, he froze. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he nearly dropped his laptop case.

His roommate's side of the room was a complete and utter pigsty. Cardboard boxes were strewn across the floor, some lying on their sides, their contents spilling onto the carpet. A laundry basket sat in the middle of a crowd of boxes, a mountain of wrinkled clothes carelessly piled on top of each other. Stuffed animals seemed to have been randomly thrown about, most flocking beside the bed. On the bed was the creator of the mayhem, buried beneath his comforter, a stuffed animal snuggled against his face. The only part of him that was visible was his tousled light brown hair.

Ludwig had half a mind to storm right on over to his roommate and heartlessly rouse him from his slumber. However, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe it was the stuffed animals, causing him to picture his roommate as a naïve child who hadn't meant to do any harm. Maybe it was because the mess was contained within his roommate's side of the room, so it wasn't really his problem.

Whatever the reason, he couldn't bring himself to wake him… and yet, he was inexplicably furious at him. _How dare he make our room look like a tornado hit it!_ Ludwig snarled inwardly, dumping his laptop case on his bed. _He's lucky he's sleeping!_

Ludwig carried on that way, silently venting to himself as he as he hurried in and out of the dorm room, grabbing the boxes from his car and dropping them off into his room. When he finally finished moving his possessions into the room, he began to unpack, carefully stacking the notebooks on his shelf; making sure he sharpened each and every pencil before placing them in a little mug he had, the tips facing upward; making sure the front of his alarm clock was directly facing the front of his bed; etc.

When his side of the room was fit to his needs, he finally allowed himself to relax. At this point, it was getting pretty late. He glanced at his sleeping roommate, who must've slept right past dinner.

Thinking about dinner made Ludwig's stomach growl. "I guess I'm hungry," he muttered to himself, checking the time once more. The alarm clock read 9:23. "Curfew's at 11, right?" he wondered aloud, making his way over to the door. He opened it just enough so that he could peer out. He didn't see anyone in nearby, but he could hear a few voices echoing from further down the hallway.

He silently slipped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. He started down the hallway, not really knowing where he was going. He probably should have brought his map. He scoffed at his own thought; he didn't need a map to figure out where he was going. He was absolutely certain that he would soon know this school like the back of his hand. In fact, it would probably only take a few days before he could help other freshmen get to their classrooms.

He emerged from the hallway into one of the lobbies. A circle of people were standing around, talking loudly and laughing obnoxiously. Ludwig openly cringed at them before heading down another hallway, hoping that it led to the cafeteria. Thankfully, his sense of direction seemed to be outstanding, because the hallway led straight into the cafeteria.

He purchased a bag of potato chips, a soft pretzel, and a bottle of water. There were only a couple of other students in the cafeteria, sitting at a table in the far corner. Ludwig contemplated just taking his food back to his dorm and eating it there. But then he'd get either his bed or his floor covered in salt and crumbs! And what if he accidentally spilled the bag of chips all over the floor?

"I don't want to make a mess in my brand new dorm room," Ludwig grumbled. "I'll eat here." His decision made, Ludwig planted himself into the seat nearest to him. He popped open his chip bag and began to shove handfuls of chips into his mouth.

Halfway through his snack, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the people on the other side of the cafeteria kept staring at him.

Feeling anxious under their gazes, he hastily finished the bag of chips. He crumpled the bag up and got up to throw it out. Honestly, he should've thought his actions through more. He should've waited until the group of staring students had left. However, it was too late. As he neared the trash can, his eyes accidentally locked upon a pair of green ones. It was all over.

"What are you looking at?" snapped the green-eyed boy, leaping to his feet so suddenly that Ludwig stumbled backwards in surprise.

He felt his eyebrows crinkle, partly in irritation and partly in confusion. "Me? _You_ were the one staring at _me_!"

The boy stomped over to Ludwig, anger etched in his face. As he got closer, the first thing Ludwig noticed was the boy's thick, dark eyebrows. It was a comical sight, considering the boy's messy hair appeared to be naturally blonde. "You listen here, sideburns," spat the boy, jabbing a finger into Ludwig's chest. "I won't care for any of your funny business! If you're in any of my classes, you'd better keep well away from me. You probably won't be, though," he scoffed, before adding, "I'm guessing you're a big-shot football player. Hm? Am I right?"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. As irritating as this boy was, he had to give him credit for bravery. He was a fairly short young man; the top of his head reached Ludwig's elbow. And he appeared quite frail as well, especially when standing beside Ludwig, whom was much more muscular. "Actually, I'm majoring in science," he answered simply, tossing his chip bag into the trash can. The shocked look on the boy's face somehow irritated Ludwig even more. So he quickly turned to walk away, not wanting to continue this unpleasant conversation.

Unfortunately, the boy quickly grabbed ahold of his sleeve, tugging him back towards him. "I'm not done talking yet," he growled.

That was it. Ludwig had had enough. He shoved the boy backwards, causing him to lose his grip and stumble towards the trash can. He nearly fell in, but luckily, he managed to catch his balance. "Don't touch me again," Ludwig ordered harshly. "And don't talk to me as if I'm lower than you. I'm taller than you, stronger than you, and, oh yeah, _smarter _than you. So _you_ stay out of _my _way, and there won't be any trouble, alright?"

With that, Ludwig turned and stormed away. He snatched his pretzel and bottle of water off the table, making a quick and angry exit out of the cafeteria.

"Dumbass… I don't even know his name…" he grumbled to himself as he made his way through the hallways, shoving past other students, who would shoot him a bewildered look before carrying on as they were.

He soon reached his dorm room once more. He nearly threw the door open, but quickly remembered that his roommate was still sound asleep. So, he sighed loudly and deeply, trying to dispel the worst of his anger before entering the room quietly.

His roommate was sleeping soundly still. Ludwig guessed he would sleep through the night. Maybe the kid had been smart; if his classes were early the next day, then he was definitely getting a decent amount of sleep. More than decent, really.

_I should get to bed too,_ Ludwig thought to himself, yanking his shirt off and stepping out of his pants. He changed into his pajamas and then climbed into his bed. He watched his roommate for a long moment, eased by the way the stranger's chest moved with each quiet snore. Eventually he drifted to sleep as well.


	2. Making Friends

Feliciano woke up way earlier than usual; probably because he had passed out at 5 in the afternoon the previous day. He glanced at the opposite side of the room to see his sleeping roommate, whom was facing away from him. He caught a glimpse of ruffled golden hair, and was intrigued as to what his roommate looked like. However, he was certain that the blonde wouldn't wake up any time soon; it was only 9, after all, and most classes started around noon.

Feliciano got to his feet, only to be greeted by bright rays of light that had snuck their way through the gaps in the blinds. He blinked owlishly as the light pierced his eyes. He emitted a low groan before hastily turning away from the light, stumbling out of the room and into the hallway.

Though nausea churned in his stomach at the thought of food, the feeling of hunger gnawing at the edge of his stomach overpowered it. He staggered into the lobby and glanced around, looking for the cafeteria. Luckily some people were sitting nearby.

Feliciano stood in the middle of the lobby for a moment, allowing his hazy thoughts to clear up a little more. He then went over to the person closest to him, a friendly-looking girl with short platinum blonde hair. "Hello," he said in the most cheerful voice he could muster, which was difficult when struggling to overcome the drowsiness that felt like cotton in his mouth. "do you know where the cafeteria is?"

"Oh, it's right over there," the girl answered, pointing down a hallway nearby.

"Thanks!" Feliciano turned and shuffled down the hall she had directed him towards. It wasn't long before he came across the cafeteria doors. His stomach growled loudly, and Feliciano patted it in a lame attempt to comfort it.

He proceeded through the double doors. There were a few people scattered here and there, some in groups, others just sitting by themselves.

Feliciano went over to the food counter and bought a breakfast sandwich and a small iced coffee. Once he had his breakfast, he found that the prospect of sitting by himself made him feel uncomfortable. So, he wandered the perimeter, searching for a non-hostile straggler who wouldn't mind some company.

He stumbled upon a boy with chin-length ebony hair, who appeared to be drawing something, which immediately piqued Feliciano's interest. He slid into the seat beside the black-haired boy, placed his meal on the table, and peered over his shoulder. The drawing was of some girl with cat ears jutting out of the top of her head. A cat tail curled around her ankles, and her dress spilled down her body, stopping short at her knees.

The boy was so consumed in his drawing that he didn't seem to have noticed Feliciano. So, Feliciano decided to make himself noticed. "That's a really nice drawing," he chirped, causing the poor boy to start, his hands immediately clamping down on the paper, blocking the drawing from view.

"S-s-sorry," spluttered the black-haired boy, as if he had been caught in the middle of a crime.

"What?" Feliciano asked, confused. "What are you sorry for? I said it's a really nice drawing."

"I… I," stammered the boy, as if struggling to come up with some sort of response. "Er… thanks?"

Feliciano laughed a bit, amused by the boy's awkwardness. "You're welcome! My name's Feliciano, but you can call me Feli. What's yours?"

"…Ki… ku," the boy, Kiku, answered slowly, refusing to look Feliciano in the eyes.

"Kiku? That's a funny name!" Feliciano blurted out. After realizing that Kiku might find it hurtful, he quickly added, "I mean, I like it, though! It's just… funny."

"Thanks…?" Kiku seemed like he wasn't sure how to respond to anything that Feliciano was saying.

"No problem!" Both were silent for a moment, and Kiku went back to his drawing, though his eyes would dart over to Feliciano every so often. "So," Feliciano quipped, "what class do you have first?"

"Drawing and design," Kiku mumbled in response; Feliciano could see that he was getting lost in his artwork once more.

The brunette gasped. "No way, so do I!" he exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table in his excitement. Kiku jolted upright, his pencil dropping out of his hand and clattering against the table. "S… sorry… I didn't mean to scare you… again…"

"I-it's okay," Kiku responded hurriedly as he scooped his pencil up once more. "That… that's great, though, that we… have the same class. D-do you… have it at 1:30?"

"Yep!"

"…M… maybe we can sit together?" Kiku suggested, lowering his head so that his eyes were hidden as he continued his drawing.

"Of course! That would be great!" Feliciano was ecstatic. Just one day here and he'd already made a friend! He honestly hadn't expected things to work out this greatly! He was so happy that he decided to keep quiet, for Kiku's sake. So, he simply sat there, watching Kiku draw as he scarfed down his breakfast sandwich and took huge gulps of his iced coffee.

When he had finished his breakfast, he began to grow bored just watching Kiku draw. Though it was intriguing, he was one who desired having conversations, and he got the feeling that Kiku preferred silence when concentrating.

"I'm going to go back to my dorm room now," Feliciano announced, figuring that he should allow Kiku some peace and quiet. _Besides,_ he thought, _I'll have plenty of time to talk to him in class… And, I'm sort of afraid that if I talk to him for too long, he'll grow irritated, like most people do… He seems like a nice guy, though. I don't want to ruin our friendship so soon!_

"Okay," Kiku said simply. Feliciano faltered, not very satisfied with this one-word answer. But he ended up getting to his feet anyway. He collected his trash in his hands and began to walk away, when he heard Kiku call quietly after him, "I'll see you in class."

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Feliciano called over his shoulder, "Yep, see you in class!"

* * *

Feliciano entered his dorm room, only to come face-to-face (well, more like face-to-chest) with his roommate, who had been on his way out.

"Oh, hi," Feliciano said cheerfully as his roommate shuffled out of the way to allow him to enter the room.

"Hello," his roommate responded after a moment's hesitation.

"My name's Feliciano! You can call me Feli, though." Felicano swayed from side to side a bit as he talked, which was a nervous habit he had. And he had every right to be nervous! His roommate was a tall, muscular man, who didn't look to be in a good mood.

"Ludwig Bielschmidt," his roommate replied, holding out his hand. Feliciano tilted his head to the side, a bit taken aback by the formal introduction. But he politely took his roommate's hand, and was rewarded with a firm handshake that left his own hand aching when he pulled away.

"Nice to meet you, Lud… um… Ludy… Can I call you that?" Feliciano flashed him a cautious grin.

"…I'd rather you didn't," Ludwig answered simply. Feliciano's face fell. His roommate certainly wasn't a very friendly one.

"Um… okay… Ludwig, then." An awkward silence quickly followed. Feliciano felt compelled to say more, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. "So… what's your first class?"

"Astrophysics."

"That sounds boring."

"It's not," Ludwig growled, his ice blue eyes narrowing. Intimidated, Feliciano took a step back.

"S-sorry," he whimpered. "I didn't mean to insult you or anything."

Ludwig glared at him for a few more seconds before letting out a long sigh. "…What's _your_ first class?" he asked, though he sounded as if he didn't necessarily care to hear the answer.

"Drawing and design," Feliciano said proudly. Ludwig stared at him as if he had two heads, causing the poor brunette to shrink back again. "…W-what's wrong?"

"That's not your major, is it?" Ludwig asked, and Feliciano shook his head. "Good."

"I don't have a major yet," Feliciano explained. This time Ludwig stared at him as if he had three heads.

"You… don't have a major?" Ludwig repeated slowly, to which Feliciano nodded. "What about your future? What are you going to do for a living? How are you going to get a house and be financially stable?" Feliciano found himself bombarded with questions.

"…Why do you care? You just met me," Feliciano pointed out.

"Yes, but you're my roommate. I'm going to know you for a while!" Ludwig paused, before anger flooded his expression. "Which reminds me, why is your—no, our—room such a mess?!" he snapped, gesturing to the cardboard boxes and stuffed animals that covered the ground.

Feliciano backed up a bit more, startled by Ludwig's outburst. He found himself cowering against the wall. "I-I'm sorry, I-I was too tired to finish u-unpacking."

"Well now that you've gotten some rest, why don't you get to work?" Ludwig stormed into the hallway and slammed the door behind him before Feliciano could even respond.

Feliciano stood there for a moment, back against the wall, eyes glued to the items cluttering the floor. "Should I?" he wondered aloud, not particularly eager to clean. However, his roommate had succeeded in striking terror into his frail body. And Feliciano was a timid boy, who often gave in without even attempting to provoke an argument.

And so, unsurprisingly, he ended up giving in.

When Ludwig reentered the room around a half hour later, he looked pleased with how spotless the room now was. "Good job," he said approvingly, and he sounded like he really meant it.

Feliciano grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks. It was harder than I thought it would be, though."

"I'm sure it was," Ludwig agreed, picking up his alarm clock and fiddling with it. When he put it down, he grazed the face of the clock with his finger, and then cupped the bottom of the clock with his entire hand immediately before placing it on the desk.

Feliciano tilted his head at his roommate's odd behavior. "What was that?"

Ludwig didn't even glance at him; he was busily nudging the pencils in his mug to one side. "What was what?"

"When you put the clock down, you, like… rubbed it weirdly, or something."

"What? Oh… oh, yeah, that." Ludwig spun around to face Feliciano. "I, er… I have OCD," he explained quietly.

"OCD?" A quizzical look swept across Feliciano's gaze. "So, you're really organized and stuff?"

Ludwig scoffed and shook his head. "No, that's just a stereotype of it. Though I suppose it does cause one to be more organized. However, it means… well, if I don't do something a certain way, I get bad thoughts… ominous thoughts, really. For example, if I didn't, say, rub the face of the clock like I just did, I would have thoughts about something like my brother dying. And I'm unable to control these thoughts. It will just keep playing in my mind over and over until I rub the clock." He paused, before adding, "It's very exhausting and not fun at all."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound very fun," Feliciano commented sympathetically.

Before either one could continue to contribute to the conversation, a loud ringing noise resonated throughout the room. Feliciano looked confused for a moment before realization sparked him. He quickly whipped his phone out of his pocket. On the screen was the name "Lovino", along with a picture of his brother, who looked eerily similar to Feliciano albeit the slightly darker hair and the grumpy look plastered on his face.

"Sorry," Feliciano said to Ludwig before pressing the green Answer button. "Hey, Lovi," he chirped into the phone.

Unfortunately, as per usual, his cheerfulness was greeted with anger. "Feli! Where the fuck did you put the remote before you left?!"

"…That's why you're calling?" Feliciano asked, sadness prickling his voice.

"Why did you think I was calling? To listen to you prattle on and on about how wonderful it is at your stupid college?" Lovino snapped. "Listen, I know you were the last one to watch TV, so just tell me where the remote is so you can go back to fucking class or whatever!"

"Um… I-I don't remember… probably under the couch cushions," Feliciano responded quietly. He listened as Lovino rustled through the couch cushions, swearing under his breath as he did so. Feliciano's gaze shifted towards Ludwig, who had a laptop perched on his lap. His fingers typed away on the keyboard. Feliciano was curious as to what his roommate was doing, but figured he should wait until Lovino had found the remote.

"Found it," Lovino finally announced. "I'll talk to you later, then, Feli."

"Er… yeah, okay… by—" Feliciano was interrupted by a low beeping noise, indicating that Lovino had already hung up. Sighing to himself, he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"That was a short conversation," Ludwig commented. Feliciano wondered if he had been listening in the entire time.

"Yeah. That was my brother. He just wanted to know where the TV remote was."

"Ah, I see. I have a brother too," Ludwig said, rapidly beginning to type once more. Feliciano waited, expecting Ludwig to say more. An awkward silence quickly followed before Feliciano felt the need to continue the conversation himself.

"What's his name?"

"Hm?" Ludwig glanced up from his laptop, looking puzzled. "Who?"

"…your brother," Feliciano answered slowly.

"Oh. Gilbert."

"Gilbert? That's funny, I know a Gilbert!" Feliciano grinned goofily. "Well, I mean, I've never met him. But, my brother's friend is friends with a Gilbert. Wouldn't that be funny if it was the same Gilbert?"

"I guess so," Ludwig responded lamely, eyes locked on his laptop screen once more.

"My brother's name is Lovino," Feliciano continued. "He's a few years older than me. He never went to college, so he's pretty resentful towards me for going, especially since he got better grades than me when we were younger. But, in high school, he began to slack off a lot. I wasn't the greatest student, but I managed to get better grades than him. Now he's a waiter at some restaurant."

Ludwig was silent for a moment before half-heartedly grunting, "That's nice." Feliciano was disappointed with this response.

"So, tell me about your brother," he pressed, hoping that this would provoke a longer response out of his roommate.

"Gilbert?" Ludwig's gaze detached from his laptop screen once more. "Well… he dropped out of high school to get a full-time job. Normally this is a horrible thing to do, but thank God he did. If he hadn't, I wouldn't be where I am now. He managed to keep us financially stable, so we could continue to have a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. He acts like the world's biggest asshole, and yet, deep down, he's one of the most caring guys I've ever met. He annoys me constantly, but he is the only person I truly care about."

Feliciano wasn't sure how to respond to all this information. "Wow," was all he managed to say. He was silent for a moment before adding, "Your brother sounds like a great guy."

"He is. He really is," Ludwig said as he snapped his laptop shut. "Anyway, I have class in 20 minutes. I'm going to head down now to ensure that I'm the first student there." He got to his feet and grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulders. He began to march out into the hallway.

"Oh. Okay. Well, bye! Have a good day! See you later!" Feliciano waved to him as he shut the door behind him.

Feliciano heard him mutter a soft "goodbye" before the door clicked shut. He glanced at the clock, which read 12:10. He still had an hour and twenty minutes before class. Sighing, he fell backwards, his back landing softly on the mattress. Considering how long the first couple of hours of his day had seemed, he knew one thing for sure:

Today was going to be a _long_ day.


End file.
